Oak-seat



UNITED STATES PATENT UFFICE.

F. I. PALMER, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

CAR-SEAT.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 27,469, dated March 13, 1860.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, F. I. PALMER, of Knoxville, in the county of Knoxand State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement inthe Seats of Railway- Cars; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full and eXact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specilication.

The connection between the arms and the backs of the seats which are nowin almost universal use in railway-cars, is such that the hinge-straps((1,) of said backs, rest freely upon the shoulders (g) ofshoulderplates (B,) that are secured to the inner sides of the seatarms, (A,) and consequently, the said seat-backs can be shifted from oneside of the seat-bottoms to the other at the pleasure of the occupants.It therefore not unfrequently happens that a single passenger manages toappropriate to himself four times the seat-space that he is entitled to.

To remedy the aforesaid evil is the object of my said improvement incar-seats.

This improvement consists in combining spring-clasps with theshoulder-plates (B,) of the seat-arms (A) in such a manner that when theaforesaid hinge-straps, (C, which connect the seat-backs to the centralportions of the seat-arms) are resting upon the shoulders (g) of thesaid shoulder-plates, (B,) the said spring-clasps (f) can be closed andlocked over the said hingestraps until such time as the conductor maysee cause to reverse the positions of the backs of the car seats. Andwhen the said spring-clasps are unlocked, they will fly back to theposition represented by the dotted lines in Figure 3, of theaccompanying drawings.

F ig. l, of the accompanying drawings is a view of portions of one endof my improved car-seat; Fig. 2, is an inside view of the shoulder-plateB, detached, and Fig. 3, is a section in the line y, y, of Fig. 2.

Similar letters indicate the same parts in each of the drawings.

The spring-clasp f, whose lower end is hinged to the shoulder (9,) ofthe plate B, has a latch-hook at its upper end which shuts in to anaperture in said plate, where it is self caught by the bar at the upperend of the slot in the spring-actuated sliding frame c. The said slidingframe c, works in suitable ways on the inner of the shoulder-plate B,while its actuating spring d, rests upon the shoulder h, that projectsinwardly from the plate B, through a slot in said frame, and the upperend of said spring presses against the projection m, of said frame,

The arm i, of the sliding plate c, works in a space beneath the hood Z),which is secured to the inner side of the plate B; and in the upper endof said space, a tumbler a, is pivoted by means of the pivot k. Theangular key-head of the said pivot 7c, passes into a recess in the frontside of the plate B, which is shown in Fig. 3.

By applying a suitable key to the said pivot 7c, the tumbler a, can bemade to press downward the arm z', of the sliding frame c, a sufficientdistance to detach the upper end of said frame from the hook at theupper end of the clasp f; which will enable the spring e, to throwoutward the said clasp to the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig.3, and entirely relieve the hinge-strap C, from the action of saidclasp. The aforesaid spring e, works in an aperture in the plate B, andis combined with the said plate and with the clasp f, in the mannerrepresented in Fig. 3.

What l claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Combining a self-locking olasping apparatus with either or both of theshoulderplates B, of a car-seat, substantially in the manner and for thepurpose herein represented and described.

F. I. PALMER.

Witnesses:

M. S. BOTTLE, SAML. MGCARTHY.

